Comments on: A Unicode editor for Michael http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/2004/11/02/a-unicode-editor-for-michael/ ... but that doesn't matter, because I turn it into a sexy dance Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:04:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Michael Norrish http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/2004/11/02/a-unicode-editor-for-michael/comment-page-1/#comment-62 Michael Norrish Thu, 04 Nov 2004 23:28:57 +0000 http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/?p=20#comment-62 Well, I want to write my programs using the String signature, so that I can ignore the encoding issues entirely. Whether or not the underlying representation uses a vector of 32 bit words is irrelevant. The question is what the return type of String.sub should be. The WideString signature says it has to be the WideChar type. The demands of Unicode basically require this to be a type capable of representing 2**32 values. (Or maybe it's 2**20, but whatever :-) So, WideChar needs to be four bytes. If you use a nice underlying UTF-8 representation underneath the String signature, that's good implementation, but I don't want to see that as a user of the API. Well, I want to write my programs using the String signature, so that I can ignore the encoding
issues entirely. Whether or not the underlying representation uses a vector of 32 bit words is
irrelevant. The question is what the return type of
String.sub
should be. The WideString signature says it has to be the WideChar type. The demands of Unicode
basically require this to be a type capable of representing 2**32 values. (Or maybe it’s 2**20,
but whatever :-) So, WideChar needs to be four bytes. If you use a nice underlying UTF-8
representation underneath the String signature, that’s good implementation, but I don’t want
to see that as a user of the API.

]]> By: Ken http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/2004/11/02/a-unicode-editor-for-michael/comment-page-1/#comment-61 Ken Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:50:20 +0000 http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/?p=20#comment-61 Regarding non-ASCII input, I'd use <a href="http://gucharmap.sourceforge.net">gucharmap</a> (unless it is <code>latin1</code>-letters, in which case I'd just use the keybord) or the "Character Palette" applet (assuming Gnome). But I know that there are other <a href="http://www.jw-stumpel.nl/stestu.html">input methods</a> available. As for programming in SML. I don't know what the "right" way to handle Unicode is. <code>WideChar</code> seem like an adobtion of C's <code>wchar_t</code> (BTW where did you get the '4 bytes' from? I don't that WideChar specifies how many bytes should be used) which is inadequate IMNSHO for handling Unicode, because you really need to deal with the encoding directly. And for a great many purposes will a 4 byte encoding be terrible wastefull. Thanksfully, SML's normal (and required) <code>CharVector</code>s (i.e., <code>String</code>) would be perfect for representing UTF-8 strings. Thus, you could implement a nice library in pure SML. Regarding non-ASCII input, I’d use gucharmap (unless it is latin1-letters, in which case I’d just use the keybord) or the “Character Palette” applet (assuming Gnome). But I know that there are other input methods available.

As for programming in SML. I don’t know what the “right” way to handle Unicode is. WideChar seem like an adobtion of C’s wchar_t (BTW where did you get the ’4 bytes’ from? I don’t that WideChar specifies how many bytes should be used) which is inadequate IMNSHO for handling Unicode, because you really need to deal with the encoding directly. And for a great many purposes will a 4 byte encoding be terrible wastefull. Thanksfully, SML’s normal (and required) CharVectors (i.e., String) would be perfect for representing UTF-8 strings. Thus, you could implement a nice library in pure SML.

]]> By: Michael Norrish http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/2004/11/02/a-unicode-editor-for-michael/comment-page-1/#comment-58 Michael Norrish Wed, 03 Nov 2004 23:50:11 +0000 http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/?p=20#comment-58 I didn't know about gedit. Thanks. I'm a bit confused about how I'm supposed to input non-ASCII characters into it though. Perhaps what I should have said in my 'log entry is that "Emacs doesn't support Unicode properly", and this makes life painful. Apparently Emacs-22 will be better. As for programming in SML, presumably the "right" way to do this is to use a WideChar type, and to hope that the 4 byte characters in memory get written out to disk in nice compact UTF-8 form. (Or is there some other model implicit in the revised Basis?) I didn’t know about gedit. Thanks. I’m a bit confused about how I’m supposed to input non-ASCII
characters into it though. Perhaps what I should have said in my ‘log entry is that “Emacs doesn’t
support Unicode properly”, and this makes life painful. Apparently Emacs-22 will be better.

As for programming in SML, presumably the “right” way to do this is to use a WideChar type, and
to hope that the 4 byte characters in memory get written out to disk in nice compact UTF-8 form.
(Or is there some other model implicit in the revised Basis?)

]]> By: Ken http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/2004/11/02/a-unicode-editor-for-michael/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Ken Wed, 03 Nov 2004 07:23:45 +0000 http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/?p=20#comment-60 If you just want to play with it, I think you should be able to just check out mgtk from the <a href="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=23226">SF CVS</a>. Then, go to <code>mgtk/src/defs2sml/release/mgtk</code> and do a <code>make</code>, after that go back to <code>mgtk/examples</code> and do a <code>make editor</code>. Some murking with makefiles might be needed. However, there will be a official release shortly. Meanwhile just use <a href="http://gedit.sf.net">gedit</a>. If you just want to play with it, I think you should be able to just check out mgtk from the SF CVS. Then, go to mgtk/src/defs2sml/release/mgtk and do a make, after that go back to mgtk/examples and do a make editor. Some murking with makefiles might be needed.

However, there will be a official release shortly. Meanwhile just use gedit.

]]> By: Michael Norrish http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/2004/11/02/a-unicode-editor-for-michael/comment-page-1/#comment-59 Michael Norrish Tue, 02 Nov 2004 22:31:58 +0000 http://ken.friislarsen.net/blog/?p=20#comment-59 Cool! What do I do to download it and the library? Or should I wait for the official mGTK release? Cool! What do I do to download it and the library? Or should I wait for the official mGTK release?

]]>